Are the jobs there?

[Jim49525]

Hi all,
First want to thank all of you for your posts. This seems to be a good forum with some honest folks out there who aren't simply trying to scare us new guys or whine about how miserable they are!

After twenty years in social work, I'm going to fulfill a dream. I start CDL school in a few weeks! Last October my employer called me in and said they'd decided to eliminate my position. I was pretty blown away since I'd given them 15 years of my blood sweat and tears, and just a few weeks previously had received an outstanding performance eval with no warning of the termination! No such thing as job security anywhere anymore!

My daughters are grown and it's just my wife and I. The first 8 years we were married, I was in the Air Force and gone from home 9-10 months a year, so the road time won't be new to us. The thing my wife keeps wondering about though is how can there be so many job openings for truckers. I tell her the work can be hard and not for everyone, but I'm starting to wonder too. Is there really this huge demand or will I be struggling to find a position after school? I have pre-hire agreements from most of the typical OTR carriers, but I'm seriously considering Schneider. I like the sound of their training program and from what I've been hearing, they treat their drivers pretty well. I figure I will have to go with one of the big carriers to get the experience I need, and they seem like a good choice. I talked to one of their recruiters again today just to ask some questions, and I was a little concerned when I asked about projected openings for OTR dry van drivers in the Michigan area around the end of June. She said they are hiring currently, but she didn't seem real definite about what might be happening down the road. Anybody have any thoughts? Thanks again for welcoming us newcomers so graciously--my dad was a trucker in the old days, and it's good to hear that some of that old trucker respect and courtesy is still around!